


After the rain

by orphan_account



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Late Night Conversations, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sleeping Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-13
Updated: 2008-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-22 09:55:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6074841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So many years worth of pent up emotions got to give sometime.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the rain

The soft creaking of the floor isn’t what stirs him awake, not really. Rather, what chases his sleep away is the realization that he’s being watched, an ability that proved useful back when he had to mount guard against the Cumans, and also into modern times, between the rock of Russia’s watchful eye and the hard place of being in the Stasi’s bad graces towards the end of his stint as the state of workers and farmers. 

Out of habit, he keeps quiet and waits in the dark for something he can react to, but nothing happens. His brother hasn’t uttered a single word up to this point, and it doesn’t seem likely that he will start to speak any time soon. It’s so like him to keep his thoughts to himself.

"I'm still breathing, as you can see," Prussia says to break the silence, sporting a smirk that comes easily to his lips.

West flinches, but other than that, he doesn’t move from the place where he has been standing like a sentry for some time now. "I didn't mean to wake you up.”

“I was already awake.” Prussia tells him a white lie because the fact that he’s naturally outspoken doesn’t mean that he can’t be nice as well. He even pats the empty side of his bed and bids his brother closer, and when that doesn’t have the intended effect, he redoubles his efforts. “Aw, don’t be shy,” he speaks with uncharacteristic sweetness, and uncharacteristically, West accepts.

They stay silent for a while, listening to the drops hitting the windowpanes, and Prussia doesn’t say that this is the third night in a row that he has heard West get up in the middle of the night to check on him before returning to his own room. Prussia wants to ask what he’s so afraid of, but since he might be forced to answer the same question, he doesn’t say anything. It’s not something he wants to think about right now.

“Is it really all right—” West starts, and his voice trails off as if he had suddenly fallen asleep, but Prussia knows he’s wide awake.

“What? What is alright?”

“Staying like this, in the house, while I—”

“Not finishing your own sentences is very annoying, I’ll have you know. You didn’t learn that from me,” Prussia says, even though he knows what West is hinting at. He sighs, runs his fingers through his hair, and then lets his hand fall. “Look, it’s fine by me. I’m free to do as I please with you getting the spotlight and all, so stop worrying already! Man, it’s like you got paid for overthinking.” West looks at him as if he were to smile, except that he doesn’t quite bring himself to do it, and it’s okay because those almost-smiles of his are as good as a full-blown one.

For a moment there’s only the sound of the rain, until West props himself on the mattress, his hands at Prussia’s sides and his breathing harsh. He’s looking down at him, as terrified as he’s expectant, completely unaware that Prussia would have already pulled him from his Iron Cross if he had still been wearing it. He makes do without it, however, wrapping his arms around West’s neck before he pulls him closer. They used to roughhouse sometimes, to play fight each other as if they were rowdy little children, but now he just relaxes and lets West kiss his scars without shying away, and he can’t help thinking of how much he—both have changed over the years they were apart.

“I missed you,” West whispers against his temple.

“It figures. I would have missed me too,” Prussia says, not so much because he’s a self-absorbed jerk, but because he wants to believe that some things are still the same between them. To his credit, West chuckles as if he had been expecting him to say that kind of thing all along, and that’s exactly the moment when Prussia chooses to say, his voice wavering despite his best intentions, “I actually wanted to see you so fucking much.”

It might be that he has never said that before in actual words, or it might be that so many years worth of pent up emotions got to give sometime, but the thing is that West holds onto him as if he were to vanish otherwise. He, too, even if he doesn’t realize it at first, tightens his grip around West’s shoulders, and when West finally enters him the pain is not as great, Prussia assures him with a strained voice. It’s really nothing, he thinks, comparing it to the knowledge of being no longer alone.

It’s quiet outside. The morning is edging closer with each passing minute, but he isn’t in a hurry to fall asleep yet. He wants to commit every single detail to mind, to record everything until he’s sure that he’ll be able to remember this moment exactly as it happened. Their experiences have shaped them for better or for worse, and he’s afraid that in his case, the penchant of his old bosses for keeping tabs on everything has rubbed off on him. It’s all in the past now, but sometimes the past wants to catch up, even if it’s in small ways.

West calls his name then, so softly that he almost doesn’t hear it. His arms are heavy around Prussia’s waist and his breath is warm against his skin, and before Prussia notices it, his heart stops racing inside his chest as if he were running away from something he can’t name nor put a face on. “Brother,” West says again in his sleep, and this time his voice is clear, comforting.

He’s not alone anymore. It seems like he will have to remind himself of that many times until the thought sinks in once and for all. “It’s alright, West. I’m fine now,” Prussia says, and as he strokes the strands of hair that fall on his brother’s forehead, sleep comes.


End file.
